There are many special or festive occasions in which family members and other guests give gifts to the person or persons being recognized, such as wedding receptions, bridal showers, baby showers, anniversaries, birthday parties, graduation parties, retirement parties, "house-warming" parties, and the like. Furthermore, there are many religious occasions in which guests traditionally give gifts such as baptisms, communions, confirmations, bar mitzvahs, bat mitzvahs, and the like.
While many gift givers choose to give tangible gifts on such festive or religious occasions, it is also customary to give a monetary gift in the form of cash, check or gift certificate. A monetary gift allows the recipient the freedom to decide how the gift may be used.
At a wedding reception, for example, it is common that the gift givers place their gift to the newlyweds on a large table as they enter into the reception area. For those guests who prefer to give a monetary gift, a large bowl or wishing well structure is often provided to collect and store the gifts during the reception. The large bowl or wishing well structure is utilized in order to avoid the possibility of accidentally losing a gift or having a gift stolen from the reception area.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,100,002 describes a decorated gift receptacle assembled in the shape of a decorated wishing well and a kit for the assembly of the gift receptacle. The decorated wishing well-shaped gift receptacle comprises a bottom, four upright sides, and a roof formed of stiff sheet material. The roof comprises a pair of intersecting sloping sections, wherein at least one of the sides has an opening therein. The gift receptacle further comprises a horizontal slotted platform disposed below the opening in the roof and a plurality of overlapping strips of flexible decorative material, such as lace, affixed to the exterior surfaces of the gift receptacle.
There has also been an attempt to form a storage structure having the exterior appearance of the storage structure is a castle. U.S. Pat. No. 5,394,989, for example, describes a three-component miniature castle structure with a storage compartment. The structure has three distinct and separate, non-integral portions, namely, a removable top portion, a base portion and cloth sack. The miniature castle structure comprises a concealed storage compartment having an inner cavity, four sides, a bottom and an open top face, formed in a structure having the exterior shape of a castle base; a removable top covering formed in the exterior shape of a castle roof; and a plush cloth sack being located in the concealed storage compartment. The cloth sack is used to conceal human infant teeth that have been lost in the normal course of growth and development of human children.
Although gift receptacles having the exterior shape of non-decorated and decorated wishing wells are known in the prior art, heretofore, a gift receptacle constructed from self-supporting sheet material and assembled in the exterior shape of a castle structure has not been taught in the prior art, and remains an appealing alternative for many special or festive occasions.